The First Step on the Bridge

In the last edition, I wrote about choosing joy and didn’t it sound like “and they lived happily ever after!". But that was not the case. Choosing joy or making a choice was probably the easier thing to do. Later, I realized that living that choice every day, every minute was far more difficult. 

My commitment to live my choice took me on many different journeys of rediscovery. One such journey was about facing the people I did not relate to or to be more precise, “I did not like” or “I did not resonate with” or “we did not share the same intellectual bandwidth.” I was ok avoiding them, avoiding having conversations with them or evolving to Avoidance 2.0, i.e., indifference. I was being indifferent to them. Being indifferent to them gave me a false sense of pride in myself and my work. I was being recognized as a great executioner, someone who can make things happen but never seen as a go-to person in time of personal / emotional distress. My humane side was deteriorating.

I took the first step on the bridge where I had been walking without noticing others, and I faced the biggest fear of “them avoiding me!” I decided to change that. I was prepared to be at the receiving end. I started acknowledging people, stopping by for a quick hello, waiting for a longer duration on the bridge wherever people felt to be listened, shaking hands and smiling all the way. Soon my sphere of influence expanded and I had so many more people to talk to, bounce off my ideas with and listen to their thoughts. More I opened my mind and heart to others, the more joy I experienced in my life. I felt light hearted and at ease. Icing on the cake was my experience of others behavior towards me. As I opened up, they did too! As I acknowledged them, they did too!

I took the first step on the bridge, towards my being, and now I walk with joy, not alone but with many more.

Have a great week ahead!!! 

P.S. Would share more about what happened when a few people did not smile back at me.